Abu Dhabi: There are around 360,000 active Twitter users in the UAE who share around 2.5 million tweets per day, a Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s (TRA) report has found.
The finding was part of an awareness campaign called ‘The UAE Social Media White Papers’ collection, which comprises a series of awareness documents designed to highlight the terms and conditions of the most popular social networks in use in the UAE.
Between January 10, 2013 and July 10, 2013, the number of Twitter users in the UAE increased from 305,056 to 363,624. This constitutes a 19.2 per cent increase (58,568 new users) over the six-month period.
Among the UAE Twitter users, 52.05 per cent tweeted in Arabic, 35.91 per cent tweeted in English while the rest tweeted in other languages
Dubai has the highest number of Twitter users with 258,611. Abu Dhabi is the second highest with 73,155 while Umm Al Quwain has the lowest number of users, 189.
The white paper highlighted the laws in the UAE when it comes to social media. It said the UAE prohibits the publication of content, which is contrary to public morals, the principles of Islam and the social and moral welfare of the UAE or any content that contains irreverence towards Islam and any other monotheistic religion.
The content must also respect the UAE Government, its leadership, political institutions and, ultimately, the UAE’s cultural heritage and social norms and customs. In reference to Twitter, the white paper highlights the following information as a priority for all respective subscribers: It said users must not publish speeches and content that is threatening or contains graphic or gratuitous violence or any content that is offensive to a nation or its government. Again, users should think carefully about the content they are posting. Users are responsible for the content they post, and should bear this in mind if they are posting content which they do not own or which contains material that is subject to someone else’s rights. Also, users must not publish other people’s private information without their consent.
The social networks included in ‘The UAE Social Media White Papers’ collection are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Yahoo/Flickr, LinkedIn, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Store, Blackberry and Keek.
Full versions of the white papers and the corresponding info graphics will be accessible via the TRA’s official website: http://www.tra.gov.ae/WhitePaper/twitter.php
